Maritime Monday for August 1st, 2016: The Chundertaker

Divers in Sweden sniff out 340-year-old shipwrecked cheese

Dairy product described as ‘mixture of yeast and Roquefort’
discovered during exploration of warship that sank in 1676

The Kronan Project/Kalmar County Museum

Divers exploring a historic royal shipwreck off the south-east coast of Sweden have discovered what they believe is probably a chunk of exceedingly smelly, 340-year-old cheese.

“We’re pretty sure it’s some kind of dairy product, butter or cheese,” said Kalmar county museum’s Lars Einarsson, who is in charge of the dive on the wreck of the Kronan, a 126-gun warship that sank in 1676.

Food on the Move: What We Want, When We Want It

In the 21st Century we ship, fly and truck our food supply across huge distances. Britain, for example, imports 90% of its fresh fruit. The BBC’s Mike Johnson is dockside at one of Europe’s biggest ports to hear how – and why – the world is racking up the food miles.

“I’m stumped, I have no idea—I couldn’t even hazard a guess,” one researcher says in the video.

The team used a vacuum system to slurp up the creature. Once aboard the ship, it began to unfold into two distinct lobes and looked like it could be a new species of nudibranch, according to the team’s website. Known for their brilliant hues, nudibranchs are a type of sea slug that inhabit a range of environments. Smithsonian

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“HMS Galatea – Arethusa-class Light Cruiser on the slipway at Messrs. Scott’s yard at Greenock. …when finally completed she will have a displacement of 5,200 tons.”

HMS Galatea (71) – built by Scotts Shipbuilding & Engineering Co. (Greenock, Scotland), with the keel being laid down on 2 June 1933. She was launched on 9 August 1934, and commissioned 14 August 1935. In April 1940 she was involved in the Norwegian Campaign, leaving on 25 April transporting part of the Norwegian National Treasury to Britain.

On 14 December 1941 before midnight Galatea (Captain E.W.B. Sim) was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-557 off Alexandria, Egypt. Captain Sim, 22 officers and 447 ratings were killed. Some 100 survivors were picked up by the destroyers Griffin and Hotspur. Less than 48 hours later, U-557 was rammed by the Italian torpedo boat Orione and sunk with all hands. more on wikipedia

ships at the dock; found in a Tecumseh, Michigan antique mall – See readers argue over identification of these vesselsCruise to Norway aboard the Royal Mail Steam Packet Ship Arcadian in 1913During the 1st world war she was converted to an armed merchant cruiser. In April 1917 Arcadian was en route from Salonika to Alexandria with a company of 1,335 troops and crew when hit by a single torpedo from the German submarine. She sank within six minutes with the loss of 279 lives

TheSS Ile de France was a French ocean liner built in Saint-Nazaire, France for Compagnie Générale Transatlantique. The ship was the first major ocean liner built after the conclusion of World War I, and was the first liner ever to be decorated entirely in the Art Deco style.

SS River Clyde – 3,913 GRT British collier built by Russell & Co of Port Glasgow on the Firth of Clyde and completed in March 1905

In 1915 River Clyde was adapted to be a landing ship for the joint French and British invasion of the Gallipoli Peninsula. Openings were cut in her steel hull as sally ports from which troops would emerge onto gangways and then to a bridge of smaller boats from the ship to the beach. Boiler plate and sandbags were mounted on her bow, and behind them a battery of 11 machine guns was installed.

lumber ship Evanger; 1961- Port of Coos Bay, Oregon (photo by Patchman 2)anchor chains of the RMS Mauretania; Tyne & Wear Archives & MuseumsBergen, Norway – A Busy Day at the Wharf (1929) Bryggen (Norwegian for “wharf”), also known as Tyskebryggen (the German Wharf) is a series of Hanseatic commercial buildings lining the eastern side of the fjord coming into Bergen, Norway. Bryggen is on the UNESCO list for World Cultural Heritage sites. Original (4007 x 2626)

Found Photo – Man posing near unknown caravel replica. Anyone have any ideas where/what this might be?Photograph of one of the four original propeller bosses for Mauretania at Wallsend Slipway & Engineering Co. – Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums

Wallsend Slipway & Engineering Company Ltd was formerly an independent company, located on the River Tyne at Point Pleasant, near Wallsend, Tyne & Wear, around a mile downstream from the Swan Hunter shipyard, with which it later merged. Formed by Charles Mitchell, a shipbuilder, in November 1871. The company manufactured Parsons turbines under license for ships including the famous RMS Mauretania and numerous British warships. In 1977 the business was nationalised and became part of British Shipbuilders. more on wikipedia

USS Brooklyn dressed overall and with her yards fully manned at the Naval Review, 29 April 1889. USS Brooklyn (1858)

Brooklyn was active in Caribbean operations until the start of the American Civil War at which time she became an active participant in the Union blockade of the Confederate States of America. More

Sailor painting name on the side of a shipCheerful sailor taking a smoke breakSeattle Harbor (Elliot Bay), 1878 (Taken from the foot of Cherry street)SS George Washington; The Kasemann and the Klinkharts Midget troupes immigrating to the USA 1923

Back in 1920s America, the Hans Kasemann Midgets were the biggest little thing in Vaudeville. Travelling from theatre to music hall, the group of little performers put on dance routines and comedy skits to delighted audiences. more on Daily Mail

French warships Formidable and Jaureguiberry in harbour at Brest, FR – c. 1900

Formidable was an Amiral Baudin-class ironclad battleship of the Marine nationale; Launched: 16 April 1885. In 1890, she was the platform for captive balloon experiments. In May 1891, she became the flagship of the Mediterranean squadron, and 1898 was transferred to the Atlantic squadron, based in Brest.

Jauréguiberry was a pre-dreadnought battleship of the French Navy (Marine Nationale), launched in 1893. She was in the Mediterranean when World War I broke out and spent most of 1914 escorting troop convoys from North Africa and India to France. She supported French troops during the Gallipoli Campaign in 1915, then became a guard-ship at Port Said from 1916 for the duration of the war. After her return to France in 1919 she was used as an accommodation hulk until 1932, and sold for scrapping in 1934.

USS Long Island (CVE-1) decommissioned on 26 March 1946 at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. Struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 12 April, she was sold to Zidell Ship Dismantling Company of Portland, Oregon on 24 April 1947 for scrapping. However, on 12 March 1948, she was acquired by the Canada-Europe Line for conversion to merchant service. Upon completion of conversion in 1949, she was renamed Nelly, and served as an immigrant carrier between Europe and Canada. In 1953, she was renamed Seven Seas.

In 1955, she was chartered to the German Europe-Canada Line. On 17 July 1965, she had a serious fire and was towed to St John’s, Newfoundland. She was repaired and started her last voyage on 13 September 1966. She was bought by Rotterdam University the same year and employed as a students’ hostel until 1977, when she was scrapped in Belgium. more on wikipedia

USS Culgoa (AF-3) was a refrigerated supply ship in the United States Navy. Built in 1889 by J.L. Thompson and Sons, Ltd. of Sunderland, England and purchased at Cavite, Philippines on 4 June 1898. During the naval blockade of Manila, the vessel supplied the American squadron with ice and meat. Since she was not a commissioned naval vessel, Culgoa could purchase supplies while avoiding the neutrality laws that banned sales to the Navy.

Sailing from New York on 21 September 1907 Culgoa was loaned to the Panama Railway Company for an emergency shipment of beef, returning to New York 16 October 1907. On 11 December Culgoa left to join the Atlantic Battleship Fleet at Santa Lucia as mobile stores ship, one of four auxiliaries accompanying the sixteen battleships on the cruise of the “Great White Fleet“.

On 3 January 1909, while at Port Said she broke off from fleet duties to bring emergency supplies to Messina, Italy, which had been ravaged by an earthquake. Culgoa was decommissioned at New York City on 31 December 1921 and sold in 1922. wikipedia

Hospital ship Gloucester Castle down by the stern after being torpedoed by the U-boat UB-32 off the Isle of Wight, 31 March 1917

HMHS Gloucester Castle (His Majesty’s Hospital Ship) was a steam ship originally built for the Union-Castle Line, but requisitioned for use as a British hospital ship during the First World War. She was, however, salvaged, and returned to civilian service after the war. She was sunk again by the German commerce raider Michel off Ascension Island in the South Atlantic in 1942. more on wikipedia

Three Masted Sailing Ship off Cockatoo Island, AUS – Probably late 1800s. Taken from in front of dockmaster’s residence. Long Nose Point and Ball’s Head can be seen in the backgroundCunard ship RMS Pavonia (sail steamer) en route from the UK to America during the 1880’s-90’s.Men at work in the boiler room of RMS Mauretania after conversion to oil burning, 1921 – Tyne & Wear Archives & MuseumsSS Great Eastern harboured in Milford Haven, 1870’s – Milford Haven is a town and community in Pembrokeshire, Wales, situated on the north side of the Milford Haven Waterway, an estuary forming a natural harbour that has been used as a port since the Middle Ages.

it was originally intended by the founder, Sir William Hamilton, to be a whaling centre, though by 1800 it was developing as a Royal Navy dockyard which it remained until the dockyard was transferred to Pembroke in 1814.

It then became a commercial dock, with the focus moving in the 1960s, (after the construction of an oil refinery built by the Esso Company) to logistics for fuel oil and liquid gas. By 2010 the town’s port has become the fourth largest in the United Kingdom in terms of tonnage,and plays an important role in the United Kingdom’s energy sector with several oil refineries and one of the biggest LNG terminals in the world.more

For her shakedown cruise in November 1898, (when the photo was taken) Kasagi sailed from Philadelphia directly to Great Britain, where her armament was installed, arriving Yokosuka Naval District on 16 May 1899.

Kasagi ran aground in heavy weather in the Tsugaru Strait between Honsh? and Hokkaid? en route to Akita on 20 July 1916, suffering a major hull breach in the vicinity of her second smoke stack. After salvage of some equipment, she sank on 10 August and was formally written off the navy list on 5 November of the same year. more on wikipedia

Grand View Point Hotel: A Steamer in the Allegheny Mountains, 1932 – a popular roadside attraction along the Lincoln Highway (U.S. Route 30) in western Pennsylvania until it burned to the ground in 2001

The S.S. Grand View Point Hotel was remodeled in 1931 to give the impression of an ocean liner, because the owner saw a resemblance between early morning mists rising from the valley and billowing ocean waves. – The Ship Hotel: A Grand View along the Lincoln Highway (Mechanicsburg, Pa.: Stackpole Books, 2010), author Brian Butko

Nautical Heritage; Aussie Style

The term “Chunder” is short for “Watch Under”, which means someone is throwing up. It comes from the days when immigrant future Aussies were on the ships from Britain, many as convicts. Nowadays, it just means drinking too much.